Education historian returns to SD schools with praise

Education historian Diane Ravitch visited San Diego this week — a place she described as a bright spot in the increasingly dark landscape of public education — to deliver closing remarks at the National School Boards Association conference.

Ravitch warned thousands who attended NSBA convention of an “unprecedented assault” that she believes has been waged against public education and locally elected boards by those who are pushing efforts to privatize and disenfranchise schools. She also promoted her new Network for Public Education, a group she formed that will back political candidates who oppose high-stakes testing, school closures and charter school conversions.

A best-selling author, blogger, prolific tweeter and former assistant education secretary under George W.H. Bush., Ravitch has emerged as a critic of recent school reform efforts nationwide. She has been embraced by teachers who feel they are under attack and criticized by corporate reformers and others for her abrupt change in views (she once supported No Child Left Behind) among other reasons.

“They say our schools are failing and that public education is broken, it’s not,” said Ravitch, adding that graduation rates are at a historical high. “It’s federal education policy that’s broken.”

Ravitch capped off her visit to San Diego on Tuesday with a more intimate conversation organized by the San Diego Education Association and held at Kearny High School.

“I have learned so much from San Diego,” said Ravitch, whose 2010 book, “The Death and Life of a Great American School System,” examined battles over public education and included a critical look at the San Diego Unified School District under former Superintendent Alan Bersin.

Recent changes in San Diego have made the district a model for the nation, she said.

“All across the country, terrible things are happening. Teachers are being crushed. Collective bargaining is being eliminated,” Ravitch said. “I can come to San Diego now and say the school board, the union and the administration are actually working together.”

Ravitch weighed in on everything from merit pay to high-stakes testing.

Test scores, she said, should be treated like a thermometer to be used occasionally. “You don’t take your temperature all the time, that would be sick.”

Teacher bonuses and merit pay, she said, cheapens the profession. The way to motivate educators is by nurturing their need for idealism, professional autonomy and a sense of purpose. “I’ve never met a teacher who says, ‘I got into teaching because I hope to get a bonus some day.’”